With a debut in flesh planned for the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show this September, Ferrari decided to give the fans a first peek on how their new 488 GTB will look like. Ferrari proudly announces that this is the most powerful mid-engined V8 car to come with a retractable hard top and at the same time being “the most aerodynamically efficient Ferrari spider ever built”.
If you are confused on what to call it, the official designation for this droptop is the Ferrari 488 Spider. From the front, it looks just the same as the GTB version, but Ferrari has done a terrific job in making the Spider look as stunning as its predecessor, the 458 Spider.
The shape of the vents on the rear deck looks different of what you will find on the 458, most likely to channel more air towards the turbocharged power plant. The engine is still the 3.9-liter V8 producing 660-horsepower and 560 lb-ft of torque.
The Spider comes with a spoiler and an aerodynamic underbody incorporating vortex generators. The spaceframe chassis used is made out of 11 different aluminium alloys combined with other noble materials, one of which is magnesium. This combination offers same torsional rigidity and beam stiffness figures as the 488 GTB with 25-percent improved chassis performance. It takes only 14 seconds for the retractable hard top to fold backwards in two overlapping sections.
